Annual Lottery/Licensing Statistics Overviews

2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016

2023 Lotteries/Licensing Statistics

The number of deer gun licenses made available to hunters over time:

• 2016 – 49,000 deer gun licenses
• 2017 – 54,500 deer gun licenses
• 2018 – 55,150 deer gun licenses
• 2019 – 65,500 deer gun licenses
• 2020 – 69,050 deer gun licenses
• 2021 – 72,200 deer gun licenses
• 2022 – 64,200 deer gun licenses
• 2023 – 53,400 deer gun licenses

After 11,810 resident gratis licenses and 534 nonresident licenses were subtracted from the overall license allocation, just 21,460 buck licenses were available for the 61,914 hunters who applied for them as their first choice in the lottery.

2023 Lottery Stats

Deer

• 75,117 – Number of people – not including 12,085 gratis applicants – who applied for deer gun lottery licenses, down from 76,783 in 2022.
• 42.65 – Percent of successful applicants, excluding gratis and nonresidents, for deer gun and muzzleloader licenses.
• 20 – Maximum number of bonus points for any applicant (nonresident mule deer buck applicants).
• 12,520 – Applicants with four or more bonus points.
• 13.74 – Percent of applicants with four or more bonus points.
• 53.35 – Percent of applicants with four or more bonus points who applied for a muzzleloader buck license.

Turkey

• 7,412 – Number of spring turkey licenses available to hunters, down from 7,647 in 2022.
• 84.6 – Percent of successful applicants for the spring season.
• 81.8 – Percent of applicants who received their first license choice for the spring season.
• 4,435 – Number of fall turkey licenses available, up from 3,975 in 2022.
• 72.3 – Percent of successful applicants for the fall season.
• 70.8 – Percent of applicants who received their first license choice for the fall season.

Pronghorn

• 8 – Number of hunting units open in a limited pronghorn season.
• 420 – Number of licenses available to hunters, down 1,550 from 2022.
• 9,375 – Number of people who applied for available licenses, down 6,306 from 2022.

2022 Lotteries/Licensing Overview

Other

• 2,639 Number of sharptailed grouse counted on spring dancing grounds, down from 3,281 in 2021.
• 22% The decline in roosters heard crowing during the Department’s spring pheasant crowing count compared to 2021.
• 800,000 Approximate number of PLOTS acres on the landscape in 2022.
• 81,000 Number of Canada geese counted during the Department's midwinter waterfowl survey.
• 7.4 million Number of private land acres electronically posted.
• 1.8 million Approximate number of chinook salmon eggs collected during the Department's annual salmon spawn.
• 60 lbs. 8 oz Weight of new bow/spear state record buffalo taken by Mitch Estabrook from Heart Butte Reservoir.
• 70 million Approximate number of walleye eggs collected in spring, surpassing the goal of 58 million eggs

2021 Lotteries/Licensing Overview

The number of deer gun licenses made available to hunters increased again in 2021:

• 2016 – 49,000 deer gun licenses.
• 2017 – 54,500 deer gun licenses.
• 2018 – 55,150 deer gun licenses.
• 2019 – 65,500 deer gun licenses.
• 2020 – 69,050 deer gun licenses.
• 2021 – 72,200 deer gun licenses.

Drawing a buck license in 2021 was, like most years, not easy. Randy Meissner, Game and Fish Department licensing manager, said after 11,811 resident gratis licenses and 722 nonresident licenses were subtracted from the overall license allocation, just 31,160 buck licenses were available for the 66,591 hunters who applied for them as their first choice in the lottery.

2021 LOTTERY STATS

DEER

• 79,857 – Number of people – not including 12,113 gratis applicants – who applied for deer gun lottery licenses, down from 79,999 in 2020.
• 52.98 – Percent of successful applicants, excluding gratis and nonresidents, for deer gun and muzzleloader licenses.
• 19 – Maximum number of bonus points for any applicant (nonresident mule deer buck applicants).
• 12,636 – Applicants with four or more bonus points.
• 13.59 – Percent of applicants with four or more bonus points.
• 50.83 – Percent of applicants with four or more bonus points who applied for a muzzleloader buck license.

TURKEY

• 7,012 – Number of spring turkey licenses available to hunters, up from 6,237 in 2020.
• 76.5 – Percent of successful applicants for the spring season.
• 74.2 – Percent of applicants who received their first license choice for the spring season.
• 3,825 – Number of fall turkey licenses available, up from 3,785 in 2020.
• 69.8 – Percent of successful applicants for the fall season.
• 65.7 – Percent of applicants who received their first license choice for the fall season.

PRONGHORN

• 15 – Number of hunting units open in a limited pronghorn season.
• 1,720 – Number of licenses available to hunters, down 75 from 2020.
• 15,405 – Number of people who applied for available licenses, up 86 from 2020.

2020 Lotteries/Licensing Overview

• 780 – Number of any-deer bow licenses made available to nonresidents.
• 1,200 – The approximate number of students, at the time of publication, who completed the written and practical portions of the Department’s hunter education program, which was adjusted to meet the demands of students during the pandemic.
• 2,364 – Number of mule deer counted during the Department’s spring survey, indicating a 7% population increase from 2019.
• 10,000 – Estimated number of mussels collected below Kathryn Dam on the Sheyenne River. The collected mussels were relocated elsewhere in the river because it was feared that work being done to the dam would be detrimental to the population.
• 90,000 – Estimated number of Canada geese counted during the Department’s annual midwinter waterfowl survey.
• 170,000 – Number of advanced walleye fingerlings stocked in state waters.
• 800,000 – Approximate number of PLOTS acres made available to hunters.
• 2.1 million – Number of chinook salmon eggs collected during the Department’s salmon spawning operation in fall on the Missouri River System.

2020 Lottery Stats

Deer

• 79,999 – Number of people – not including 12,130 gratis applicants – who applied for deer gun lottery licenses, up from 78,582 in 2019.
• 53.11 – Percent of successful applicants, excluding gratis and nonresidents, for deer gun and muzzleloader licenses.
• 18 – Maximum number of bonus points for any applicant (nonresident mule deer buck applicants).
• 12,446 – Applicants with four or more bonus points.
• 13 – Percent of applicants with four or more bonus points.
• 44.66 – Percent of applicants with four or more bonus points who applied for a muzzleloader buck license.

Turkey

• 6,237 – Number of spring turkey licenses available to hunters, up from 5,662 in 2019.
• 76.2 – Percent of successful applicants for the spring season.
• 73 – Percent of applicants who received their first license choice for the spring season.
• 3,785 – Number of fall turkey licenses available, up from 3,660 in 2019.
• 73.8 – Percent of successful applicants for the fall season.
• 68.8 – Percent of applicants who received their first license choice for the fall season.

Pronghorn

• 15 – Number of hunting units open in a limited pronghorn season.
• 1,795 – Number of licenses available to hunters, up 460 from 2019.
• 15,319 – Number of people who applied for available licenses, up 2,391 from 2019.

2020 Lottery Notes

For the fifth year in a row, the number of deer gun licenses made available to hunters increased in 2020.

Here’s a quick look:

• 2016 – 49,000 deer gun licenses.
• 2017 – 54,500 deer gun licenses.
• 2018 – 55,150 deer gun licenses.
• 2019 – 65,500 deer gun licenses.
• 2020 – 69,050 deer gun licenses.

Drawing a buck license in 2020 was, like most years, not easy. Randy Meissner, Game and Fish Department licensing manager, said after 11,845 resident gratis licenses and 690 nonresident licenses were subtracted from the overall license allocation, just 28,598 buck licenses were available for the 67,665 hunters who applied for them as their first choice in the lottery.

For the seventh year in a row, following hard winters that significantly impacted the state’s population, Game and Fish made available 1,795 pronghorn licenses in 2020, or 460 more than 2019.

Fifteen pronghorn hunting units were open in 2020, three more than 2019.

2019 Lotteries/Licensing Overview

• 29 – Number of male sage grouse counted on eight leks in spring, up 7% from 2018.
• 90 – Number of elk captured and fitted with GPS collars as part of a study to better understand elk distribution and movements in the badlands.
• 600 – Approximate number of hunters who successfully drew a deer license but, as required by state law, did not purchase a general game and habitat license.
• 820 – The record number of archers who competed in the North Dakota National Archery in Schools program state bull’s-eye tournament in Minot.
• 2,000 – Approximate number of walleyes tagged by Department fisheries biologists in Alkaline Lake in Kidder County as part of a one-year study.
• 3,000 – Approximate number of walleyes tagged by Department fisheries biologists in Lake Sakakawea as part of a four-year study.
• 14,000 – Approximate number of trout, pike and catfish stocked by Department fisheries personnel in dozens of community fisheries around the state in spring.
• 78,000 – Approximate number of hunters, not including 13,500 gratis applicants, who applied for 64,500 deer gun lottery licenses.
• 99,000 – Estimated number of Canada geese counted during the Department’s annual mid-winter waterfowl survey.
• 791,000 – Number of Private Land Open To Sportsmen acres made available to hunters for the fall hunting season.

2018 Lotteries/Licensing Overview

2017 Lotteries/Licensing Overview

2016 Lotteries/Licensing Overview

• 49,000 deer licenses were available, up from 43,275 in 2015.
• 74,179 people applied for deer gun season licenses, up from 69,791 in 2015.
• 63,379 applicants applied for buck licenses as their first choice; 19,818 buck licenses were available in the drawing after 12,684 gratis and 485 nonresident licenses were withheld.
• Mule deer doe licenses were available for the first time in five years in three hunting units in the badlands.
• The highest number of bonus points accumulated by any hunter in the 2016 deer drawing was 14.
• Applicants who applied for a mule deer buck license accounted for nearly 24 percent of applicants with four or more bonus points.
• About 7 percent of applicants with four or more bonus points applied for a muzzleloader buck license.
• A buck license in unit 2E was the most difficult license to draw. The second most difficult was a buck license in unit 3C.
• The number of spring turkey licenses (5,815) available to hunters in 2016 was the same as 2015. The number of applicants decreased from 5,880 in 2015 to 5,601 in 2016.
• The number of fall turkey licenses available decreased from 3,655 in 2015 to 3,510 in 2016. The number of applicants increased from 3,040 in 2015 to 3,078 in 2016.
• A limited pronghorn season was offered for the third consecutive year, with 730 licenses, 320 more than 2015.